Wales boss Wayne Pivac has explained the reasoning behind a shock call-up for uncapped 21-year-old Harri O’Connor.
The young Scarlets prop, who has just nine games for the region under his belt, has joined up with the national squad before they depart for South Africa later this week.
A squad of 34 will now head to face the world champions in their own back yard after an injury concern over starting tight-head Tomas Francis emerged. Pivac moved to play down their worries over Francis but losing the 64-cap veteran is almost unthinkable.
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With Leon Brown already out of the tour through injury, Francis going down would leave Pivac with Dillon Lewis and uncapped deputies Sam Wainwright and O’Connor as his only fit tight-heads to take on the most fearsome pack in world rugby.
It’s a scenario that could derail Wales’ chances, so any suggestion of an injury to the Ospreys man will send shivers down the spine of Welsh supporters.
“Tomas Francis has just picked up a niggle in his back. It’s been a bit of a problem for him on and off in the season,” said Pivac.
“We are just treating that with care so it’s just a precautionary measure really to make sure we have the numbers in training and we can prepare as we need to.”
Pushed on Francis’ fitness for the opening Test on July 2 in Pretoria, Pivac said: “We expect him to be fully fit for the first Test but it’s just a precaution to make sure we have the numbers we need to get through.”
Pivac insists O’Connor has been on Wales’ radar as a promising young player who is highly thought of among the coaching staff at Parc y Scarlets.
But there are legitimate concerns over his readiness for international rugby, against the world champions no less – and the same goes for Wainwright with both of them having barely featured in professional rugby so far.
Though Pivac stressed his belief that O’Connor will benefit from the trip.
“It’s always a concern if things don’t go well,” said the Wales boss. “But there is also the opportunity for young players to learn a hell of a lot and grow. There is no better learning than going up against the best in the world in any sport, and at the moment, you would have to say the South Africa scrum has probably shown it has consistently been the best in the world.
“Their lineout drive is superb, their forward play is probably second to none. They are not world champions for nothing. They are very, very good at what they do, so if you are a young guy going on tour and coming up against that, you are going to learn a lot, you are going to learn how much work you have got to do to get to that level, or hopefully you are going to go very well and start off what could be a very long career for yourself.
“It’s an exciting time for any youngster going on a tour like this, I believe.”
Elsewhere, Pivac insisted his squad was in good shape and that they were happy with the progress of captain Dan Biggar, who came off early in Northampton’s Premiership semi-final two weeks ago with a back problem.
“He’s [Biggar] had a good break and his medical team has done a good job with him,” said Pivac. “The reports to us have been virtually daily from Dan himself.
“He’s in good spirits and he’ll be fine to go.”
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